Originally Posted by
tcarl
1st - in 40 years of riding I've only worn out one chainring,
Years means nothing. We need to know
miles.
I've worn out a few chainrings mostly on my fixed gear but it's shockingly easy to put 10-12,000 miles on a road chainring and have the teeth be in pretty poor shape. Especially if you ride in the rain and cold.
Mountain chainrings are a slightly different story. I've got 600 miles on a modern Deore crankset with a big ring that is looking pretty ratty already.